Michael Bennet, who’d been appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2009, then easily won two re-election races as well as a reputation for working across the aisle, had declared early last year that he could do a lot more in Colorado than in Washington, D.C., and so entered the Democratic race for governor. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the former dean of the University of Colorado Law School who was finishing up his second term, had already announced that he was going for the governor’s office occupied by the term-limited Democratic incumbent Jared Polis. But Bennet had the name and the money, and seemed to have the edge.

That was then. Pushing the dozens of lawsuits Weiser had filed since Donald Trump returned to the White House, his campaign began picking up steam early this year, and just kept moving faster. There wasn’t much difference between the platforms of the two candidates—but Bennet was tagged as a member of the establishment, with Weiser the comparative outsider. And when the first election results came into the Bennet campaign party at the resurrected School Yard in Denver, it was clear that Colorado’s Democratic establishment was about to get schooled. Within the hour, the race was called for Weiser. Bennet will be going back to the Senate.

After that, the lessons kept coming. Bennet had served as chief of staff for John Hickenlooper when he was mayor of Denver, before the quirky moderate Hickenlooper moved on to the governor’s office and then the U.S. Senate. It looked like Hickenlooper had his second term locked when state Senator Julie Gonzales got in the race last December, positioning herself as a progressive alternative to a politician who’s always considered himself anything but a member of the establishment. 

Colorado has long prided itself on being independent, willing to put place over party. Almost 60 years ago, this state was the first to legalize abortion, and Coloradans turned down the Winter Olympics a few years later, citing concerns over what the event would do to the environment—and who would wind up paying the price for hosting the Games. More than half of  the state’s voters are unaffiliated, although they’re allowed to vote in the primary (most chose the Democratic ballot this round). Under these conditions,  politicians often play well as mavericks. But this year  Hickenlooper, like Bennet,  found himself  pushed into the establishment corner.  So  during the homestretch of the primary, he tended to avoid events that included Gonzales.

 In this Colorado primary, being slapped with a label—the right label—was not a liability. When Republican Senate candidate Mark Baisley complained that “Julie Gonzales’ Mamdani-style approach to government reflects a belief that more spending, programs, and government intervention are the answers to nearly every problem,” it might well have raised her vote count. She didn’t win, but coming within 10 points of the state’s most popular politician was a victory of its own.

Over the last month, though, the real race to watch—not just in this state, but across the country—was in Colorado’s 1st congressional district. This House seat is  largely synonymous with Denver and had long been held by the legendary Pat Schroeder, one of those mavericks who helped push Colorado’s image as an independent outlier. But for even longer, it’s been represented by Diana DeGette, a decidedly non-flashy workhorse who was going for her sixteenth term.

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The most progressive member of Colorado’s congressional delegation, DeGette had already picked up one Democratic challenger: Wanda James, a University of Colorado regent who’d strategized for Barack Obama and opened the first Black-owned marijuana dispensary in the state. Usually, a background like that would play well in Colorado. But then 29-year-old Melat Kiros, a Democratic socialist and lawyer-turned-barista, got in the race. 

DeGette was already in her first term in Congress when Kiros was born. Her family emigrated to the U.S. when Kiros was a baby, and after attending law school at Notre Dame, Kiros returned to Denver after she was fired by a New York law firm for a letter she posted on Substack in November 2023 defending students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.

As a candidate, Kiros did not shy away from discussions of Palestine—a tough topic in Colorado, where a group of Jewish protesters had been violently attacked in June 2025. In fact, firebrand left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker was set to appear at the June 14 “Power to the People: Young, Bold and Unbought” rally on behalf of Kiros, Gonzales and other progressive candidates; the date was abruptly canceled after various venues refused to host it, with  the last two citing threats and security challenges. 

On Instagram, Kiros charged that DeGette had “called up her donor class to silence us.” Her team moved the rally to the state capitol steps, with Piker appearing via livestream. “This was an actual act of suppression,” Kiros told him.

DeGette’s team responded with the most lively statement of a plodding campaign: “If Melat Kiros wants to campaign with someone who said America deserved 9/11 we’d do nothing to stop her.”

But by now, nothing was going to stop Kiros. No matter the reason for the Piker cancellation, it won plenty of attention for her campaign. Her insurgent run also gained traction from the victories of Mandami-endorsed Democratic socialists in New York a week earlier. By this past weekend, her race against DeGette was leading the national news shows. 

When the first results came in shortly after 7 p.m., Kiros had a solid lead, and that lead only grew as the night went on. When the race was called just after 10 p.m., Kiros’ numbers were so strong that even had DeGette gotten all of James’s votes, Kiros  still would have won.

“A year ago, a lot of experienced people told us this was impossible,” Kiros told a cheering crowd. “They said you can’t beat a 30-year incumbent. They said the establishment and the oligarchy is just too big and too powerful to overcome.”

Whoever they were, they were wrong. “Denver voters of all ages, of all races, of all religions sent a clear message: We will not wait!” Kiros continued, promising to end ICE, provide universal healthcare and end genocide in Palestine. “We believe that fundamental change can, and will, happen if we fight for it — if we organize, if we show no fear in standing up for what’s right. That is the message that Denver has sent to both parties, to Donald Trump and to the entire country.”

Hasaan Piker was at the Kiros election watch, where fans stood in line to greet him. That party lasted long into the night.

This morning, Colorado Republicans are still anxious to learn what direction their party will take. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a former county commissioner and longtime state lawmaker who works alongside Gonzales in the Colorado Senate, is waiting to see if she’ll hold her slight edge over Victor Marx, a well-funded minister who says he killed a man when he was seven and claims to be able to conduct exorcisms over the phone. If Kirkmeyer winds up taking on Weiser, she’ll be the most reasonable Republican gubernatorial candidate in decades; Colorado has only had one Republican governor in over fifty years. In other Republican primary challenges, the more centrist candidates are also claiming victory. 

In other words, Colorado Republicans could be undergoing an  exorcism even without a Marx win. But as they move to the middle, Colorado’s Democrats are speeding to the left. Political pundits sound stunned by the change. Longtime politicians who long prided themselves on being at one with the state’s maverick mentality seem at a total loss. For progressives, meanwhile, the party’s just getting started.